They lived because they dared. Some died because they dared.

Joe Storn has come a long way since the Dirtsider Expedition landed and he formed the 100-strong Dirtsider Troop, men and women who followed him because they chose not to live under draconian rules laid down by those who equated “daring” with “dying”.

In the millennium-and-a-half since humanity traveled in cryostasis halfway across the Milky Way Galaxy, the last to leave an icebound Earth, the Troop has struggled to survive freezing cold and broiling heat by making their home in caverns during the Dire Seasons, the Earth-year long, dark winter, and the equally long and deadly summer. Joe, heavily burdened by knowing he is responsible for the longevity of the troop members, who have lived without aging for more than 400 years, does not want to be the last living member of the human race and die alone.

But now, their numbers are dwindling through accident and suicide, and the only hope of fulfilling the mandate he was charged with, as admiral of the Expedition, “save humanity from extinction”, lies in replenishing their population from the cryostasis chambers aboard the seven ships they arrived in. If they can find the ships’ valley. If there is anyone left alive there. If he dares.

To fulfill a promise he made long ago, Joe will have to abandon the relative security of the caverns where he and his people have lived, undertake a journey of inconceivable peril by following the lead of someone—or something—he believes only to be a myth, a fantasy of one member of the troop. Though the rewards may be great, the triumph supreme, there are no guarantees of success. There is only hope, however dim, and a tickling, tantalizing sense of possibility.

Once more, Joe Storn must take the dare.